The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has set up Rs.14.5 billion for 115 projects under the Sports, Tourism, Culture, Youth Affairs, and Archaeology Department’s annual development plan (ADP) for the current fiscal year.
There are 106 current projects and 9 new initiatives among them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Similarly, there are 77 projects for established districts and 29 projects for newly combined districts. In the current fiscal year’s budget, Rs.14.5 billion has been set up for these projects. This was mentioned during the Sports, Culture, and Tourism Department’s Annual Development Program Review Meeting on Sunday.
The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Amjad Ali Khan, Secretary Tourism Muhammad Abid Majeed, Director General Sports Asfandyar Khattak, and other department officials. Four of the 115 initiatives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are in the sports sector, 34 in tourism, 15 in archaeology, 5 in culture, and 6 in youth affairs, according to the information provided. The conference was informed that 33 projects with a total cost of Rs. 6.217 billion are nearing completion.
In the same way, 15 high-priority projects costing Rs. 37 billion have been selected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with Rs. 10 billion set aside in the current budget for them. During a presentation to the meeting on the creation of playgrounds in the province, it was revealed that work is now ongoing on 76 projects in various districts of the province, of which 57 have been finished and the remaining 19 will be completed by the end of the fiscal year.
Similarly, a project worth Rs. 2.405 billion has been approved under the Accelerated Implementation Program for the up-grading and rehabilitation of existing sports grounds in the newly merged tribal districts, while a project worth Rs. 750 million for each of the merged districts and Rs. 34 million for each of the merged districts has been approved (ex FRs).
The meeting was informed that work is underway in the province to establish four different Integrated Tourism Zones with World Bank financial assistance to streamline the tourism sector in the province at a total cost of Rs. 3 billion, and that a master plan for these tourism zones has been prepared and will be submitted to the World Bank for further progress. Similarly, at a cost of Rs. 146 million, construction is ongoing throughout the province to establish tourist facilitation centres and rest places.
It was also revealed that the provincial annual development programme includes two major projects for the construction of access roads to tourist sites in Hazara and Malakand divisions, under which access roads to 12 different tourist sites in Malakand division and six access roads to tourist sites in Hazara division will be built.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister described tourism and sports development as one of his administration’s key areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, saying that the province government was taking tangible measures to promote these two sectors in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision.
Source: The Nation
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